Proximity-Induced Spin Reorientation in Monolayer CrI$_3$ on Hexagonal WTe$_2$

Abstract

Magnetic anisotropy controls the orientation and thermal stability of two-dimensional magnetic order. Predicting proximity-induced changes in anisotropy requires linking the electronic structure to microscopic magnetic interactions and finite-temperature behavior. Here we study monolayer CrI$_3$ on hexagonal WTe$_2$ using a first-principles-to-finite-temperature workflow centered on relativistic spin-Hamiltonian mapping. We find that WTe$_2$ reorients the CrI$_3$ magnetization from out-of-plane to in-plane and substantially enhances the magnetic ordering scale within the extracted spin models. Analysis of the extracted spin Hamiltonians shows that the reorientation is driven by a substrate-induced change in the balance between symmetric anisotropic exchange and onsite anisotropy. We establish a transferable workflow for proximity-controlled magnetism in two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures.